This invention relates to pre-loaded electrical connectors having contact terminals therein which can be connected to wires by displation type electrical connections. The term "pre-loaded", when used with reference to an electrical connector, denotes the fact that the connector contains the terminals as supplied to the user and the user connects the wires to these pre-loaded terminals. The term "displation connection" has been coined to identify that type of electrical connection between a wire and a terminal which is made by moving the wire into a wire-receiving slot provided in the terminal so that edge portions of the slot establish electrical contact with the wire.
Electrical connectors having displation type contact terminals therein are now widely used in the electrical industry; see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,012,219, 3,576,518, and 3,820,055. In all of the presently known displation type electrical connecting devices, the wire is connected to the terminal by moving the wire laterally of its axis and into the wire-receiving slot of the terminal. As a result of this limitation, it is a requirement of connectors of this type that the housing having an opening therein which is adjacent to one side of each terminal as well as at the end of each terminal; the wire must move laterally through an opening in the side of the connector housing into the slot of the terminal and after the wire has been moved into the slot of the terminal, it extends axially through the opening in the wire-receiving face of the housing. Such side openings in the side of the housings are not required in other types of electrical connectors such as the type which are designed to receive terminals which have been crimped onto wires. Crimp type terminals are assembled to a housing by merely inserting the terminal into a cavity which extends into the wire-receiving face of the housing.
This requirement of having an opening in a side surface of the housing for each displation type terminal in the connector has the affect of limiting, to some extent, the circumstances under which displation type terminals can be used in electrical connectors. For example, it is impossible to use displation type terminals in a cylindrical electrical connector having some of its contacts spaced from the cylindrical surface of the connector housing for the reason that the inner cavities which are separated from the cylindrical surface of the housing are not accessible and wires can not be moved laterally of their axis into these centrally located cavities. It is also apparent that a three row connector can not be provided with displation type terminals for the reason that the wires can not be moved laterally into the terminals in the center row. Two row connectors can be provided with displation type terminals if the terminals are oriented with their wire-receiving portions in each row facing outwardly, see the U.S. Pat. No. to Roberts 3,760,335. Finally, it should be mentioned that the existence of the side openings in the housing is undesirable under many circumstances because of the loss of dielectric characteristics and the possibility of foreign matter coming into contact with the terminals.
The instant invention is specifically directed to the achievement of a displation type terminal which is capable of receiving a wire upon axial movement, rather than lateral movement, of the wire into the terminal and to the achievement of electrical connectors having such terminals pre-loaded therein.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide an improved electrical connector containing displation type electrical terminals. A further object is to provide an electrical connector which is pre-loaded with displation type terminals capable of receiving a wire upon movement of the wire axially into the terminal. A further object is to provide multi-row and cylindrical electrical connectors containing displation type terminals.